Benny and the Jets

Entries with the tag: anaheim ducks

The Winnipeg Jets beat the struggling Anaheim Ducks 5-3 on Saturday night in what was a predominately sloppy game. Jets fans, however, can be excused for not caring too much about their team’s caliber of play - on this night it was the return of Teemu Selanne that took centre stage. And the sold-out MTS Centre let him know many times that he still holds a special place in the hearts of this city’s hockey fans.

In a season already in turmoil - it was, after all, already known that the Jets would be moving - February 7, 1996 was one of the darker days of the original Winnipeg Jets. It was on that day that Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky and a third-round pick came to town from Anaheim in exchange for Marc Chouinard and the much-adored Finnish Flash - Teemu Selanne.

One of only three active players from the original Winnipeg Jets roster - the others being Shane Doan and Nikolai Khabibulin - Selanne is easily the most beloved player to ever don a Jets jersey (either version of the franchise). Dale Hawerchuk was one of my childhood heroes, and is probably my favourite player to have played for the original Jets, but Teemu is my favourite person to have played for the team. It just so happened he was also a freaking awesome hockey player.

Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild - a game the Jets won 2-1 - was a great example of how a low-scoring game can still be exciting to watch. Energized fans, a great transition game by both teams and some stellar goaltending made it hard to look away.

Last night’s 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals falls on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to low-scoring games - the MTS Centre crowd wasn’t a factor and both teams seemed slightly listless all the way through. Confession - for a few minutes in the third period, I actually fell asleep while watching the game. I woke up when Alexander Ovechkin potted the game’s loan goal with less than two minutes to play - either that or I think maybe my snoring woke me up around that time. Regardless, I hit rewind on my PVR and got myself caught up on what I had missed while napping. It wasn’t much.

Despite being down a few forwards due to injury, the Winnipeg Jets looked impressive against the league-leading Minnesota Wild Tuesday night, squeaking out a 2-1 win in a real thriller. Zach Bogosian scored his first goal to tie the game before Bryan Little extended his goal streak to four games off a savvy pass by Dustin Byfuglien to net the winner.